Greg Stoker, a Texas veteran and anti-war advocate, is one of the hundreds of international activists aboard a flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces Wednesday as their boats approached the Gaza shore to deliver humanitarian aid.
Stoker, who lives in Austin, told his 417,000 Instagram followers that the 40-vessel aid fleet, known as the Global Sumud Flotilla, had been intercepted by a blockade of 10 to 12 Israeli Navy vessels.
A political influencer and activist with the group Veterans About Face, Stoker is aboard the veterans’ boat in the flotilla carrying more than 500 activists, lawyers and politicians from countries around the world.
The flotilla was 70 to 80 nautical miles from Gaza, according to Stoker, when it encountered the Israeli navy ships. The Israeli vessels hailed the aid boats and told them to turn off their engines or face the consequences, Stoker said in an Instagram video posted from the ship deck.
“We are in international waters in accordance with international and maritime law,” Stoker said in the clip. “We are a civilian aid mission trying to break the unlawful siege of the Gaza Strip and render aid and open a humanitarian corridor to a people facing state-sponsored annihilation.”
Stoker served in the U.S. military as an Army Ranger and Special Ops from 2009 to 2014. After leaving the service, he devoted his time to anti-war and anti-imperialist activism. Stoker also hosts the Colonial Outcasts podcast and works as a journalist with MintPress News.
Prior to the interception, Stoker reported an increase in intimidation tactics over the past few nights. Last week, a drone dropped stun grenades and itching powder on the vessels, according to Reuters. A few night ago, a quadcopter dropped popper fireworks on the ships and hijacked the flotilla’s VHF radio, forcing it to play ABBA, according to Stoker.
Stoker speculated the selection of ABBA, who are from Sweden, was deliberate.
“Obviously their weird obsession with Greta Thunburg being on the flotilla might have something to do with it,” Stoker said in a video update. Climate activist Thunburg has accompanied multiple flotillas over the past year in hopes of delivering aid to Gaza.
“We’re probably going to be expecting this every night going forward just to break everyone down psychologically,” Stoker said of the intimidation tactics.
The next night, an Israeli warship with gun turrets circled the flotilla silently with its lights off before departing. The flotilla — though slightly spooked — sailed on, approaching what activists refer to as the “Red Zone,” where previous aid ships had been intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters less than 100 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza, according to Stoker.
As the flotilla approached this Red Zone, Italy and Spain’s Naval forces — which had thus far offered some measure of official international protection — abandoned the fleet and retreated from the possibility of clashing with Israeli forces.
Video footage of tonight’s escalation showed three of the vessels being water-cannoned and boarded — and one of the vessels being rammed — before comms went dark. The rest of the boats, as of press time, are still sailing toward Gaza according to an update from Stoker.
The Global Sumud Flotilla’s official account posted an update stating “cameras are offline and vessels have been boarded by military personnel. We are actively working to confirm the safety and status of all participants on board.”
The official flotilla account released pre-recorded videos of the crews of the intercepted ships, with participants stating, “If you are watching this video, I have been abducted and taken by Israeli forces.”
Nearly 65,000 Palestinian people have been killed by Israel’s ongoing genocide over the past two years, according to figures reported mid-September by CNN. The figures were provided by the Palestinian Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between military and civilian deaths but stated that most of the casualties have been women and children.
An independent UN Human Rights Council released a 72-page report concluding that Israeli has committed multiple genocidal acts in Gaza since that country’s response to the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Gaza is also experiencing widespread famine, malnutrition and disease due to an Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid, according to a July report by the United Nations, which called the situation an “epic humanitarian catastrophe.”
The Global Sumud Flotilla was born as a civilian-lead workaround to address Israel’s blockade and deliver aid directly to Gaza’s shores.
Various aid convoys have attempted to break the siege with various convoy deployments since 2010. All have been intercepted, attacked or raided by Israeli forces, according to multiple media reports. In 2010, nine activists were killed aboard another aid flotilla when it was intercepted by Israel, according to Reuters.
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